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Unforgettable vistas of our city,
its architecture and European traditions have created a legend and today
modern Lviv is characterized by exquisite art, rich folk traditions,
a mixture of many nations, warm hospitality, thriving
business activity and, of course, a warm welcome for tourists.
The central part of the city is now designated as a
historic architectural reservation and over half of all architectural
monuments within Ukraine are located here.
The grey stones of Lviv reflect a diversity of styles and beginning
in the 13th century, you may rapidly journey through the Middle
Ages, Renaissance, Classicism and Secession.
Our
historic Lviv, known as the city of sleeping lions, went through numerous
battles, invasions, fires and floods, but finally it has been rebuilt with
a new attractiveness.
People
who have visited Lviv often find themselves drawn back again, almost as
though by some magic power.
But
Lviv speaks for itself better than anything that has been written about
it. This is a museum-town
under the open air, where dreams can come true and it creates an
unforgettable impression on all its visitors. And not just because of its
grand age of 700, but because it has a soul…
 Throughout
its long history the city has been known by many different names in
various times and in different languages.
In Ukrainian it is “Lviv”, in Latin – Leopolis”, in Greek
– “Leontopolis”, in German – “Löwenburg” and in Polish
– “Lwow”. All
these words have the same root meaning “lion”, the king of the animal
world, and the image of the lion has always formed an important part of
the city’s coat of arms. Danylo,
King of Halychyna (Galicia) and the founder of the city, inspired Lviv
with his royal leadership, being at the same time merciful and generous,
severe and stern, and he named it after his son Lev (Leo).
Since the very first days of its existence
the city with its sincere and kind-hearted Slavonic Ukrainian inhabitants
has attracted merchants and craftsmen from all over Europe, many of whom,
enchanted by the beauty of the city, decided to settle here
permanently. In medieval times
one could hear almost any language of the world in Lviv.
Many Armenian merchants settled in Lviv in medieval times, trading
in jewellry with the East and Tartar craftsmen,
Jews and Karaites traded here too.
 Talented
Master Builders soon followed the merchants and brought with them some new
creative ideas in architecture and the arts.
Getting to know local culture and co-operating
with Ukrainian architects, they created
some unique architectural combinations. Hand-in-hand with a Ukrainian
master, an Italian architect worked devotedly on building up the town and
embodied Renaissance and Baroque traditions from his motherland into Lviv
architecture. Due to his
profitable trading business a Greek
from
Cyprus
not only built himself a magnificent mansion in the central city square,
but also financed the construction of the largest tower in Lviv, which
nowadays is called Korniakt’s Tower.
Martin Grueneweg from Germany lived in Lviv for only 20 years from
1582, but he left a valuable source of historic facts in a book titled
“Description of the city of Lviv”, in which he called the city a
‘summerhouse in the middle of Paradise’.
Over the centuries Lviv has always provided a warm welcome for all
its guests, each of them bringing various different products of their
civilisations to the city, as well as their nationalcharacteristics:
Italian vigour, English merchant’s wisdom, Polish humour.
They all brought a piece of their motherland and left it here for
future generations. So
today’s international tourists can enjoy unique Ukrainian culture in the
city, yet probably find some aspect of it that will remind them of home.
And that is part of the secret of why visitors feel as comfortable here as
they do in their home
countries. 
So
Lviv is not only well worth visiting - it is worth coming back to see
again and again.
Modern
Lviv, occupying an area of 155 sq. km. with a population of 830 thousand,
is an important political, cultural and scientific centre of
Ukraine
. It is situated close to the northwestern border of the country in the
foothills of the Carpathians, where the main European watershed, dividing
the rivers of Baltic and
Black Sea
basins, passes.
. Vysokiy Zamok (High Castle) is the highest point of the city
(413m. above sea level) and The Poltva River (a tributary of the Western
Boog), on the banks of which the city was originally built, now actually
runs underground through the centre of the city.
The
climate of Lviv was best described in the 17th century by a
Turkish traveller saying: “With such a local salubrity of climate,
ladies are so beautiful that while seeing them so cheerful wearing silky
colourful clothes, with eyes of a doe, any man could loose his head”.
And so it is today!
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